It happened back in Egypt some
thousand years ago.
Our people in such slavery, we
trust you’ll never know.
The task-masters were vicious; our
people felt the lash.
The pace was unrelenting; they
treated us like trash.
Each Israelite was helpless; they
couldn’t get away.
And they’d succumbed to
hopelessness as day succeeded day.
It seemed we’d been forsaken
for some four hundred years.
But “God has not abandoned us”,
this thought allayed our fears.
And then the Lord sent Moses;
he came at God’s behest.
He led us as a people to a land
the Lord had blessed.
Then we were disobedient; and
we were led away.
This time it was to Babylon
where we were forced to stay.
As Jeremiah prophesied, we knew
captivity;
And seventy years later is when
we were set free.
We wondered why it happened. Then
God made it so clear,
Our people broke the covenant;
that’s why He sent us here.
He needed to bring discipline
into our people’s ways.
If we were disobedient, and not
done what He says,
The outcome would be
punishment; and He would carry on,
Until the last resistance in
all of us had gone.
The Lord had not abandoned us.
It happened for the best.
A mother can’t abandon the baby
at her breast!
Indeed that was unthinkable; He
couldn’t turn away,
The family of Abraham; with
them He’d always stay.
And so the Lord had answered; King
Cyrus was in place; - Isaiah 44:28
We’d leave the Babylonians and
all of that disgrace;
To journey to Jerusalem to
build a house of prayer,
Where we could pray for Babylon
and all that happened there.
The Lord had not forgotten us.
Our names had been engraved,
Upon the palms of both His
hands to make sure we were saved.
The city of Jerusalem He said He
can’t forget,
The picture of it’s shattered walls; before His face was set.
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And so we were returning to our
homeland once again.
Not many would go back with us;
a mere handful of men.
Now we are on a journey, the
temple to rebuild.
We hope that when it’s finished,
the Lord God will be thrilled.
That is our chief intention;
our discipline complete.
O Lord, please undertake for
us; we don’t need a repeat.
Jim Strickland – written Friday, 23 September 2011
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